Mat Tactics
by stubzs87
Summary: Suddenly Asuka loomed over him. With her hands on her hips, she looked down at him with a dangerous grin. "Let's spar in the ring," she said. "Huh?" Shinsuke blinked, wiping sweat from his brow with a towel. Asuka crouched down beside him, a kittenish expression upon her face. "You look yummy. I wanna lick that bead of sweat off your chest right now." Sequel to Inori


_**Author's notes: I really want to write a Christmas Asukamura fic, but I don't know if I will be able to fit one in during the timeline the series is currently being told. Maybe next year or added as a stand-alone fic related to the series. **_

_**Regular text in quotes=Spoken Japanese  
Italic text in quotes=Spoken English  
Italic text outside quotes=Thoughts  
Bold text in or out of quotes=emphasis on words**_

_**Translations: Nee-chan - A way of saying older sister. Sometimes people will call each close friends sister or brother.**_

_**Please enjoy~**_

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Shinsuke lay sprawled out on the matted floor of the Performance Center work out section. He was catching his breath after an intense warm-up session.

It was both his and Asuka's day off from the grind on the road and they decided they wanted to get some work in on some potentially new moves between the ropes. They arrived separately to avoid questions. Since then they mostly stuck to different sides of the room.

Suddenly Asuka loomed over him. With her hands on her hips, she looked down at him with a dangerous grin. "Let's spar in the ring," she said.

"Huh?" Shinsuke blinked, wiping sweat from his brow with a towel.

Asuka crouched down beside him, a kittenish expression upon her face. "You look yummy. I wanna lick that bead of sweat off your chest right now," she whispered with a swipe of her tongue.

Shinsuke's heart quickened at her words and his breath came out in harder puffs. Imagining her doing just what she had said entered his mind. Another part of his body began to react as well. He needed to calm down. Fast.

"And," Asuka continued. "I've been thinking about our talk from a while back. About how the Empress would match up with the King."

"Oh, that?" he replied. "We probably couldn't go all out like here."

"I know…" Asuka agreed. "But I can still get a feel for you in the ring." She stood up. "What do you say?"

Shinsuke gulped silently and sat up. "Just…give me a few moments to catch my wind." _Among other things…_

"Alright," Asuka clapped her hands like a giddy child. "I'll save us a ring."

Nodding, he had to peel his eyes off her ass as she sashayed out of the room. How was he going to pull this off without something embarrassing happening?

"What are you doing?"

Shinsuke nearly jumped a mile in the air at the sound of Kairi's voice. "What?"

"You've just been standing there…staring," Kairi said, hand gesturing to the empty space in front of him. "Didn't know thin air could be so interesting."

"Thinking," he answered dumbly then strategically placed himself behind some a rack of weights in case a certain piece of his anatomy was visibly misbehaving.

"About?" Kairi continued her inquisition. She started a set of pull-ups.

"Asuka wants to spar with me in the ring," Shinsuke said, playing with the ends of his hair. "I've never wrestled a woman before." _Besides my mother,_ he added mentally.

Kairi laughed. "Women endure nine months of childbearing and twelve hours of labor…and you're worried about wrestling one?"

Her response made him pout. "Males and females have different bone structures," he pointed out. "What if I pull or twist too hard?"

She laughed again, irritated him greatly. "Asuka nee-chan wrestled Suzuki Minoru and survived. I doubt anything you could do to her would even cause a moment of pain."

Shinsuke bristled momentarily at his brand of strong style being so casually dismissed. His thoughts then turned to Kairi's first sentence grabbed his attention. "Asuka wrestled Suzuki?"

"Yep." Kairi ended her set and landed on her feet. "She tagged with Marufuji Naomichi against Suzuki and Satomura Meiko. It's on YouTube if you're interested."

"Maybe later." Shinsuke looked down at himself. At least the little chitchat had given him time to cool off. "I'm heading out to the rings," he waved as he left the fitness room.

"Hold it, I'm gonna watch Nee-chan kick your ass!" the younger woman announced, jogging after him.

"Just what I need…a witness…" he grumbled.

"Looks like you're going to have more than one." Kairi pointed jovially at the ring Asuka was occupying.

At ringside were many members of the NXT locker room he had left behind when he moved up to SmackDown. He recognized Andrade Cien Almas, Bobby Roode, Aaliya, Kassius Ohno, Aleister Black, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot, Drew Gulak, Killian Dane, Nikki Cross, No Way Jose, Tomasso Ciampa, and Johnny Gargano. The rest were new faces he wasn't well acquainted with.

Kairi skipped over and joined them. Inside the ring, Asuka smirked and beckoned him over with a curl of her index finger.

Shinsuke blew out the breath he'd been holding and made his to the ring. The spectators parted for him and he climbed the apron and entered through the ropes.

"_How are we doing this?"_ _Spar or match?"_ Shinsuke asked Asuka.

"_Spar,"_ Asuka said. _"I want to feel you out."_

"_Alright,"_ Shinsuke raised both hands._ "Show me your strength, Asuka." _

She approached him cautiously, tentatively weaving her fingers between his. Then they charged, pushing his shoulder against hers and vice versa. Though Asuka was losing the battle of power, Asuka pushed back with enough force to cause surprise in him.

"_I want your full power, damn it!"_ Asuka shouted in Japanese.

"_As you wish."_ With ease he pushed her hands under her shoulders were on the mat.

Asuka bridged beneath him then kipped up, her legs wrapping around his midsection. He released her out of amazement, allowing her to catch him in a guillotine.

"_I want __**your**__ full power,"_ he challenged.

"As _**you **_wish."

Shinsuke gasped around Asuka's chokehold. _She's strong and precise,_ he thought as he felt the blood being cut off from his carotid artery. Next, all clear thought went to staying conscious and countering her hold. He muscled her legs from around his waist and hoisted her up for a suplex.

Asuka wiggled out of his grip and landed on her feet behind him. He whirled to find her rebounding off the ropes and lunging for him. The slight shift in her hip gave away the kick she had in mind and he caught her leg. He shoved her back onto the mat and leaped high in the air for his knee drop. Asuka rolled out of the way, his knee meeting nothing but canvas.

The air above his head whistled with the force of her kick. Thankfully he ducked just in time or she may have landed a knock out blow to his temple. Shinsuke rolled out of the way, putting some distance between them to assess her and plan his next move. Asuka paced the opposite corner, seeming to be measuring him as well.

Distantly he heard their audience clapping but he pushed it aside and focused on his wily rainbow-haired girlfriend. This was their first time in the ring together and she was playing seriously. He was just as serious, yet he still felt a responsibility to keep her safe as well. He couldn't become distracted for a second.

Slowly Shinsuke rose to his feet and edged to the center of the ring. He felt like he was facing off against a lioness with the hopes he would come out unscathed. Asuka mirrored him.

What he swiftly learned in short order was that what Asuka lacked in power against him, she more than made up for with explosive speed and ferocious strikes. And she knew how to bring a man down to his knees.

Well, he could be fast too. Shinsuke feinted a forearm strike and caught Asuka in the inner thigh with a whip-like kick. Asuka gave a slight hiss and threw a scowl his way. Shinsuke grinned and gave her a shrug in response.

Asuka danced on the other leg, nursing the one he struck. She rotated it a few times before her gait returned to normal.

This time she raised her hand and they locked up in a collar and elbow tie-up. Her strength seemed to have doubled this go around and it wasn't such a piece of cake to gain control. His aim to overpower her was derailed by a couple of punishing Muay Thai knee strikes to his torso.

Shinsuke doubled over, wheezing mildly. In retaliation, he moved to the ropes and on the rebound, shoved her off of him. Asuka sprinted at him, but he scooped her up and power slammed her.

When he bent to pick her up off the ground, she trapped him in a shining triangle. Maybe it was the surprise at her suddenness or the blood and oxygen being cut off, but he wasn't paying attention to his hands or where they were grabbing. All that was important to him was getting out of the hold. The best thing to do was to pick her up and slam her back down. So he went about doing just that. However, when his palm gripped something soft and round, his mind realized that something wasn't quite right – even if it felt so.

"_Foul! He touched her boob!" _

At Gulak's shout, Shinsuke panicked and let go of everything.

He may have passed out for a second or two because the next thing he knew Asuka was kneeling over him, asking him if he was all right.

Shinsuke could only sputter, his face heating at what he had inadvertently done. There were too many prying eyes around him that had seen what happened. What were they thinking right now? What was Asuka thinking?

He stumbled to his feet and made a beeline for the locker room to change. He had only succeeded in removing his tank top when the door opened. He froze, thinking it was one of the guys there to pester him about his mistake. A small hand snaking up his bareback told him otherwise.

"Hey, are you okay?" Asuka asked him again.

"Are you?" he turned around and threw the question right back at her.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" Pink brows pinched in confusion before understanding appeared to dawn on her. "Oh, you mean you being a pervert and copping a feel?"

"I wasn't trying—"

Shinsuke's protest was cut off by her lips upon is. He all but melted against her. Asuka sighed softly into the kiss. Taking his hand, she placed it on her breast. His breath hitched and he pulled back to look at her.

Asuka smiled coquettishly and pressed his hand closer. "Yeah, I'm okay with it."

He leaned back in almost before she could finish, his mouth hungry for hers. Of its own volition, his hand kneaded her breast over the tight fabric of her shirt and bra.

A small breathy sound left her, sweet music to his ears that went straight to his groin. At the parting of her lips, Shinsuke's tongue slipped inside to taste her fully. His hand squeezed her, eliciting a louder moan that echoed slightly throughout the room.

Shinsuke reluctantly extricated himself from her. His voice was a low panting rumble when he asked, "Did anyone see you come in?"

Asuka shook her head in the negative, a swish of colors.

"You…should probably go…" he said. "Before someone comes in and sees us like this…" _Before we get too ahead of ourselves. _

"You're right." Asuka's teeth nibbled on her pink lower lip, causing Shinsuke to zero in on the action and mentally kick himself for sending her away. "I'll see you later then. My place or yours?"

"Your place." He decided that he would be less likely to feel the need to pounce on her there.

"Okay," Asuka reached up to give him one last kiss. "Being with you in the ring was fun by the way. I feel like I understand you a little better now." She gave him a wink.

"I feel the same about you." He felt himself slowly grinning. "I'm already formulating a plan for next time."

"I'm looking forward to it, Nakamura Shinsuke. And I'll be prepared." she licked her lips before turning to exit the room, leaving him feeling greatly hot and bothered.

* * *

_**Author's Notes: Just a silly little thing that popped into my head **_**_but also important to the progress of this series_**_**. How much longer will they be able to keep things secret? x'3 **_

_**Any comments are always appreciated~**_


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